Internet Speed Glossary

People frequently ask, “What is ‘ping’, ‘download speed’ or ‘upload speed’? Or “What does Mbps mean?” and “What’s the difference between Mbps and MB/s?” We have all those answers for you and more in this handy little glossary.

Once you’ve mastered these definitions, check out our FAQs for an even better understanding of internet speeds.

How quickly you can pull data from a server on the internet to your device. Most connections are designed to download much faster than they upload.This is because the majority of online activity, like loading web pages or streaming videos, consists of downloads. Download speed is measured in megabits per second (Mbps).

How quickly you send data from your device to the internet. A fast upload speed is helpful when sending large files via email, or in using video-chat to talk to someone else online (since you have to send your video feed to them). Upload speed is measured in megabits per second (Mbps).

Also called latency, ping is the reaction time of your connection–how quickly your device gets a response after you've sent out a request. A fast ping means a more responsive connection, especially in applications where timing is everything (like video games). Ping is measured in milliseconds (ms).

Packet loss occurs when a packet of data being sent over the internet is not received or is incomplete. This is described in percentage of packets lost compared to packets sent. Packet loss in most cases is a result of poor signal/line quality.

Also called Packet Delay Variation (PDV), jitter frequency is a measure of the variability in ping over time. Jitter is not usually noticeable when reading text, but when streaming and gaming a high jitter can result in buffering and other interruptions. Technically, this is a measure of the average of the deviation from the mean.

Megabits per second. A megabit is 1 million bits of information. This is a standard measure of internet speed and 1 Mbps is 1,000 times faster than 1 Kbps. Not to be confused with megabytes (MB) which is a measure of size rather than bandwidth. Because a megabyte is larger than a megabit, and to avoid confusion, MB/s is not used to denote internet speeds.

Kilobits per second. A kilobit is 1,000 bits of information. This older measure of internet speed is only used when needed to describe slower connections. Not to be confused with kilobytes (KB) which is a measure of size rather than bandwidth. Because a kilobyte is larger than a kilobit, and to avoid confusion, KB/s is not used to denote internet speeds.